Here for your further delight and edification I am providing the two following 'tributes' to Paul Lowe and his unethical and illegal employment and educational practices, all taken from the now sadly defunct 'Wally Windsor' blog. Enjoy!Epistle #1
I am an ex trainer for the Windsor outfit, and I like to stay in touch with the many, many other people who have passed through their creaky doors, tho' I've only recently discovered this excellent blog.
With my ear to the ground, I know the facts are these: over the past three months, two former Windsor staff have been interviewed by tax inspectors asking specifically about Paul Lowe's staff payment methods - whether he pays in cash or by cheque, whether he supplies payslips, does he pay by the hour, does he deduct PAYE, does he give contracts and so on. I believe that a teacher still attached to the London "school" has such an interview scheduled, and is in a state of anxiety as to what on earth to say.
What the Revenue are picking up is (presumably) Paul's long term avoidance of employer's national insurance contributions. Paul simply writes staff a cheque for hours worked (tho' the cheques are usually late) without any deduction of PAYE or NI payments. Now, if a teacher is working very short term or irregular and occasional hours, that is permissible. But to have staff working continuously at the same site, doing the same hours week after week means that these people are de facto employees, and the school is required to pay approx 5% of their salary to the state as employers NI contribution. If you add up the payments which Paul has evaded over the past twenty years, it must run into tens of thousands of pounds. This practice is being stamped out systematically by the Revenue in the industries where it is still rife (eg construction, retail and indeed language schools).
In both cases, the Revenue (if satisfied that deliberate evasion has taken place) would simply issue a bankruptcy order. This requires the recipient to pay the overdue taxes (plus penalties & interest) within 30 days, or be automatically classed as bankrupt, with consequent visits from bailliffs and so on. What a mess!
This might explain why Paul is trying increasingly desperate ways to raise money at present - renting out his living room as an "Edwardian apartment" (eh?) and flogging the Windsor domain name (asking price £2000 but minimum bid £51, if you look at the selling site). He's probably heard about the tax inspector's interviews and can feel the net tightening.
The moral of this sad tale - if there is one - is that, if you are doing work for Windsor, BE VERY CAREFUL. Keep a note of monies paid (even though there are no payslips) and for God's sake declare it to the taxman so that at least you are in the clear if things go bang.
If you have information about Paul's activities, there is a Revenue tax evasion website where you can report what you know, or just phone the Tax Office in Slough - they can add what you tell them to the file.
There - hope that gives a bit of background, and sorry to ramble on a bit. But we are talking about organised criminality on a fairly large scale here - let's hope the authorities do a good job on this one.
Epistle #2We may have met in the past, crossing through the Windsor hell. I really like your blog site (
http://windsortefl.blogspot.com/) regarding Windsor TEFL and Paul Lowe. I would like to contribute, but not sure how to put a blog up.
I was a Course Director / Trainer for Paul Lowe for over two years. The things I did, as instructed by him, and in the name of service to the company have left me with feelings of guilt for many years. I would like to purge myself for selling my soul to the Lowe Devil by contributing to your blog. Can you tell me how to do it?
I’d love to share the stories of money washed through my bank account or illegal staff hired with intentions to never pay them. The bills that never got paid, or the course corners that were cut to save a few bucks for Paul. The lies I was told to tell to Trinity about getting problems fixed or passing / failing trainees. You see, I ran one of his offices for two years, so I dealt with him on a day-to-day basis (although only met him once, maybe twice – that’s how personal he is as a boss). I could tell you loads of interesting stories, but I’ll just share the one on how I finally left the Evil Windsor Empire, after finally getting the hint he didn’t want me there (although I was praised as an asset by both Trinity and most of my trainees – and they all know who this is).
There were the three times Paul tried to have me replaced, I think because they felt my salary was too high. I never really got solid answers from them why they didn’t want me around. I mean, if I had done something wrong – why not just fire me? If anyone wants to fill me in on this, go ahead. I’ve worked with many other training companies around the world (and have a solid reputation with them) over the past 8 years, and I never really understood why Paul kept trying to get rid of me when I always played ball for him in those tight situations.
Well, the first time he tried to get rid of me, it back-fired in his face and hurt a lot of people. It disgusted the Trinity moderator, training staff and even his partner at the time wasn’t happy (New Zealander named Adrian and an excellent man). The situation brought trainees to absolute tears and turned Paul’s friends into enemies. Short-staffed for trainers with 16 people taking the course, Paul sent me his friend to "help" me run the course. However, the friend tried to sabotage the whole course (as directed by Paul).
It wasn’t the drugs this "friend" was buying from Spanish students (so trainees told me), or the wild poker and stripper stories he was scaring the trainees with, but rather the fact that the friend lied to trainees about how to complete the course on the last day – the day before Trinity Moderation. The trainees, panicking, shed tears to Trinity, who arrived a day earlier. This was supposed to get me fired as the one "responsible", but got the "friend" fired as Trinity (being very professional) interviewed each of the trainees.
Paul, of course, stated his innocence which enraged his "friend" sent to do the dirty work. So Paul had him thrown out of his residence and job. Of course, the friend then came clean, and told me what he was here to do – and by Paul’s instruction, and how Paul was trying to make him take the fall so Trinity wouldn’t find out. This "friend" said he was planning to return to the UK to blackmail Paul (over information he said he had on Paul’s sordid personal past which is hearsay and I wouldn’t repeat). The "friend" said he was going to do this after his girlfriend finished the following course.
Of course, Paul must have got wind of this (not from me), and he was outraged. He decided to get his revenge. I was instructed by Paul on the phone (while Trinity was in the next room moderating), to fail a lovely girl who had her moderation in a few hours. I was told it was a management decision and had to be done and that the "friend" was at the airport so there would be no violent retaliation. The girl had actually border-lined through the course, and my heart went out to her. However, since she was the "friend’s" current girlfriend, Paul didn’t want to give her a certificate. I had to tell Trinity she had withdrawn and then tell her she had failed. Neither had actually happened. And the worst of it all: Paul said none of it was to come back to him. Well, sorry Paul – time to pay for some of your sins.
The second time he tried to get rid of me – not that I was a bad trainer as staff, trainees and Trinity still at this time said the opposite about me. Anyways, another trainer was sent out to me a few months after that (another blogger on your site I believe…). I helped train him up and we got on, but after two months, the whole scene changed. The next thing I knew, I got a phone call from Paul saying I was now just a trainer and the new guy was taking over as course director. No reason was given to me at all.
Whether the new guy had sorted this out before he arrived in Spain or while there, I have no idea. He didn’t stick around long. For me, I wasn’t happy but I knew my worth and I figured, fine. I would start job searching elsewhere and bring my training assets to someone else. Of course, Paul totally screwed over this new guy - even had him banned from the premises and I had to change the locks. This was only a couple months of him taking on the job. And I was stuck picking up the pieces with bewildered trainees. I’m sure if that trainer knows of your blog, he’ll tell you why he left the Windsor Empire.
But Paul liked to run courses with only one staff member. In my last six months there, I was running the admin and training all the trainees alone (more money in Paul’s pocket). Of course, this never made Trinity happy. There are two years of reports that I sat through, where Trinity threatened to pull Windsor ’s validation – and all they got was Paul pulling the wool over their eyes for the next moderation. Any former Madrid trainer can verify this. But I’m glad Trinity finally have separated from the guy. I ran good courses (as my trainees and Trinity will attest to), and there is nothing wrong with the Trinity Certificates or training that those trainees got. It was just difficult to do when the Trinity service was being managed by a snaky guy like Paul. It was very hard with the lack of support or money sent from Paul.
Oh, and the third time Paul wanted to see me out the door .. .. well, I saw my job title advertised on tefl.com one night. I threw up my hands at that point and said to hell with it. I wrote to one of Paul’s competitors and said: "Do you want me?" Since then I have been very, very happy as a trainer with these competitors for the past few years. But recently, Paul has written to my new employer asking for a TESOL partnership. When my boss here asked for my opinion on a partnership with Windsor and Paul, all I could say was: "Stay away from Paul Lowe".
Wise words indeed - "STAY AWAY FROM PAUL LOWE!"
It came as little surprise to me when I opened the pages of the Weekly Telegraph (the expats' cure for insomnia) today and found a member of the odious Lowe family staring at me. Mark Lowe (see ghastly pic alongside), Paul Lowe's elder brother, is currently involved in a court case that has fully reported his addiction to Asian prostitutes and his proximity to Russian hitmen.
